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Season 1, Episode 7
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall
Original Airdate: 4 October 2002
"Everybody plays each other. That's all
anybody ever does. We play parts."
Saffron
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
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Dressed up as married settlers, Mal (and Mal's
even got his pretty floral bonnet on) and Jayne take on a group of
bandits on a planet, along with the help of Zoë and their guns. After
killing the bandits, who have apparently been robbing the settlers on
the planet, Triumph, they celebrate with the rest of the group and some
of the settlers. Jayne receives a rain stick from the group's leader,
Mal gets a nice flower hat, has some wine (though he and Jayne look like
they don't need much more), and dances with a pretty girl. In the
morning, they take leave of the planet hurriedly with word of the
Alliance being on the way. While storing the new supplies away on the
ship, Mal comes across a stowaway - it's the same girl he danced with
last night, and when asked who she is, she claims she is Mal's wife.
Zoë and Jayne are the next ones to find out - Jayne is jealous (all he
got was that "dumb-ass stick"), and Zoë finds the situation so funny
that she summons the rest of the crew to mock and laugh. Mal continues
to be puzzled by the whole situation, and bothered by the fact that his
new wife keeps crying whenever he says something remotely hurtful
(though he doesn't mean to be hurtful). Book uses Simon's encyclopedia
to look up the marriage ritual of the Triumph settlers, and lo and
behold, it involves the placing of a flower wreath on the groom's head,
drinking of the wine, and the joining of hands in a dance. So,
unbeknownst to him, Mal did get himself hitched the night before. Mal
then proceeds to inquire about divorce, at which point his new wife runs
off in tears.
Mal heads after her, very disturbed by the whole situation, and tries to
comfort her. He tries to explain to her that he didn't mean to get
married, and tries to teach her to stand up for herself (since she's
pretty much a weakling and seems to let others step all over her). He
tells her she can stay on the planet Serenity is headed for -
Beaumont. It's a nice planet with a variety of work for her to choose
from. She tells him she'd be a good wife, and Mal replies that he'd be a
terrible husband. She insists on making him dinner however, and as she
heads off, she gives him her name - Saffron.
Shepherd Book tells Mal that divorce requires dispensation from
Saffron's religious leader and that he'll send a wave to ask for it
immediately. He then lets Mal know that Mal will burn in the special
level of Hell (you know, the one for child molesters and people who talk
at the theatre), should he choose to take sexual advantage of Saffron.
Mal has no plans to do anything of the sort, and lets Book know. Book is
pleased and heads off to set up a room for Saffron in the passenger
area, but not without a reminder about the "special Hell."
In the dining area, Mal eats the delicious meal Saffron has prepared for
him - fresh bao, and cider to drink. Wash and Zoë come in, Wash thrilled
by the food, but unfortunately Saffron only made enough for Mal. Wash
and Zoë tease Mal a bit, though Zoë seems troubled by Saffron's
servant-like watch over Mal, and she's not thrilled at Wash's joy over
fresh bao either. Mal claims to be not hungry, and leaves the rest of
his meal for Wash, and runs off quickly to find a place to hide. He ends
up in Inara's shuttle, but Inara isn't very happy to see him... she
seems very distraught over Mal's marriage, but Mal isn't sure if it's
because he got married, or because he doesn't plan to remain married. He
doesn't stay long in the shuttle, as it just turns into a verbal fight.
Upon leaving, he spots Jayne - holding a huge gun and looking fearsome.
But it's not what Mal thinks... Jayne wants to trade the gun (his "very
favourite gun" which he calls Vera) for Saffron, as he doesn't think Mal
deserves her. Mal informs Jayne that Saffron is not a piece of property
and refuses to trade. Jayne is disappointed, but accepts it. Mal then
runs into Saffron, who heard the whole exchange, and tells Mal she'd
rather stay on Beaumont and work than have to be with Jayne. Mal tells
Saffron a bit about his childhood - he was raised on a ranch by his
mother and several ranch hands... something he doesn't usually talk
about.
Elsewhere in space, some shady looking fellows on a weird looking ship
are checking out some pictures and data on Serenity. It seems
they're planning to trap the ship in some sort of "net" they have
onboard. They're keeping on eye out for the ship when/if it comes their
way.
Zoë and Wash get into a small tiff on the bridge when Zoë comments to
Wash about the insane cling-y-ness of Saffron to Mal. Wash makes some
comments that Zoë takes as a defence of Saffron and heads off to bed in
a huff, leaving Wash alone on the bridge.
Mal heads down to his quarters, looking ready to prepare for bed, but
Saffron's there waiting for him - naked. Mal attempts to avert his eyes
and explain to her that he doesn't plan to consummate their marriage,
but Saffron continues to try to get him into bed with her. She tells him
how thrilled she was when she found out they would be wed (apparently
her friends were married off to mean and blubbery men), and that since
she is married, she is now a woman and will take his leave to be bold.
She comes up to him, and though Mal tries to resist, it's a bit too much
for him, and when she kisses him, he kisses back. He tries to break away
and explain to her why he can't do this, but all of a sudden, he looks a
bit peaked and passes out. Apparently the wily Saffron drugged him with
her lips. She looks down at him and walks out of his bunk.
Wash is still on the bridge when Saffron comes up to visit him and
begins her seduction routine on Wash. Thankfully, Wash is very faithful
to Zoë and resists completely, and very kindly. He starts to head off
the bridge and is promptly whacked in the back of the head by Saffron,
and Wash is thus rendered unconscious. Saffron sits down at the
terminals, pulls out some wires here and there, shuts down the power,
and then heads out, welding the bridge door shut behind her.
As she is heading towards the shuttle, she runs into Inara who's trying
to figure out what happened to the terminal in her shuttle. Saffron
begins her seduction scheme once again - this time on Inara. But Inara
doesn't fall for it, and tries to get Saffron to tell her who she is...
Saffron simply answers "Malcolm Reynolds' widow," which gets Inara
worried. Saffron hits Inara, runs off to the other shuttle and escapes.
Inara, meanwhile, heads towards Mal's quarters. Zoë has found Wash and
is attempting to revive him, as Jayne tries to open the door to the
bridge. Inara finds Mal unconscious in his room, but realizes he is
alive and in her joy, kisses him fully on the lips. Unfortunately for
Inara, the poison is still on Mal's lips and she passes out next to him.
Mal awakens surrounded by the crew. Simon informs him he was knocked out
by a narcotic on Saffron's lips - something called the "goodnight kiss."
Inara is also awake and claims to have tripped and hit her head.
Everyone is too worried about the ship and what's going on to realize
that isn't what happened. The crew heads up to the bridge where Kaylee
and Wash examine the damage done by Saffron, which was done quite well
and will take a while to fix. Inara tells the others that Saffron was
well schooled - as a Companion - which means she had training from the
Academy. When she tells them Saffron tried to seduce her as well, Mal is
quite curious as to whether or not Inara succumbed; she informs them she
did not. Mal protests that it was only natural that he succumbed. After
all, Saffron was a professional.
Back on the scavenger ship, the nasty looking fellows there seem
thrilled because Serenity is now headed there way... seems
Saffron directed the ship there before killing all the systems. The
scavengers prepare their nets for the arrival of Serenity. On
Serenity, Wash and Kaylee have managed to get some of the systems
back up and discover that they're headed for the electromagnetic net.
Mal and Book know they can't run into the net... either it will kill
them, or they'll be gassed by the scavengers. Wash and Kaylee are still
unable to get back navigational control, so Mal has to come up with
another plan to get them out of harm's way. He orders Zoë to prep the
space suits and tells Jayne to get Vera.
Mal and Jayne suit up, and even Vera gets a nice suit to wear (she needs
to be surrounded by oxygen to fire). Simon shows them a picture of what
the net looks like... there are six breakers controlling it, and Jayne
should only have to hit one in order to disable the net. Mal opens the
airlock door, and Jayne holds Vera in her suit... he fires and hits his
target right away, disabling the ship and the net. Serenity sails
through to safety. Shortly after, Kaylee manages to get control of
navigation and Serenity gets ready to go visiting.
On a snow covered planet, Mal bursts into the room Saffron is staying
in. He holds Saffron down with a gun, but he doesn't plan to kill her.
Seems he only came to get back his shuttle and let Saffron know that if
she does try to play him again, he will kill her. Saffron tells Mal that
he held out against her longer than most men. Mal asks Saffron one
question - what her real name is. She pauses for a second and Mal knocks
her out... since she would have lied anyway.
Mal goes to visit Inara on her shuttle. He tells her what a graceful
woman she is. She thanks him and he informs he that he doesn't believe
she just tripped and fell. She attempts to protest, but Mal doesn't want
to play. He wants the truth. Inara admits she didn't just fall and hit
her head... she looks rather relieved that Mal knows that she kissed
him. But Mal tells her, "I knew you let her kiss you." Inara can only
stare in wondrous disappointment as he exits.
TRIVIA
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This episode marks the first appearance of
Saffron. She appears once more this season in
Trash, and is a delightful
character to have around. She's played brilliantly by Christina
Hendricks. Hendricks also played a barmaid in Angel's
The Prodigal.
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Bob Fimiani, who plays the Elder Gamman in this
episode, also featured as a demon in the Angel episodes
The Prodigal and
Heartthrob, and also played Mr.
Ward, the Initiative boss in Buffy's
Primeval.
CONTINUITY
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Book
knows what the scavenger net is and does. Jayne mentions that one day
Book will have to tell them how he knows so much about illegal
activities.
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In a
deleted scene from the episode, River mentions that Saffron’s a thief,
before her lies are exposed, hinting, once more, at her psychic
awareness.
GOOFS
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When Mal and Jayne are seated in the front of the
floating wagon, in a close up Mal has his pretty floral bonnet on, then
in a long shot it is off, then close up again it is on, then he pulls it
off.
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At the celebration in the teaser, when Elder
Gamman gives Jayne the rainstick, the camera pans around the two of them
sitting on a log. When it gets around behind them, just as Jayne is
sitting back up after hugging Elder Gamman, there is a camera man in
front of Jayne, between him and the dancing. He's standing there with
his back to us, and has a camera, and stuff hanging out of his pockets.
Serenity
(Part 1) | Serenity (Part 2) |
The Train Job |
Bushwhacked |
Shindig
Safe | Our Mrs. Reynolds |
Jaynestown |
Out of Gas |
Ariel |
War Stories
Trash |
The Message |
Heart of Gold |
Objects in Space
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